agapanthus

Monarch butterfly on butterfly bush (image by Denise Pierce).

There goes my daughter, Maya, helping her "papa" (grandpa) feed the birds again. It's a very important job for her when she goes over to visit – scooping the bird seed from the big plastic bins in his garage and carefully pouring it into one of the many bird feeders hanging from his front tree like so much ripe fruit.

Now 4 years old, Maya has been doing this as long as she's been able to walk. And her love of Papa's birds has only grown through the years, as we've made peanut butter-and-birdseed pinecone feeders every winter and later on in the season, watched the hummingbirds and other feathered friends visit plants like our Tropicanna cannas, Volcano phlox, Sun Parasol mandevillas and Blue Storm agapanthus.

(Back row, from left): purple-tinged, dark green-leaved plectranthus, Tropicanna Gold cannas, Tropicanna Black cannas, Sun Parasol mandevillas. (Front row, from left): ornamental peppers, thread-leaved croton, lime green heuchera.

Blue Storm agapanthus in a container on my deck

Volcano phlox (Red) near my deck 

Last year, Maya fell in love with butterflies, too, after a visit to the Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden at Rochester, NY's National Museum of Play. After that, we always noticed butterflies hovering around our Volcano phlox, black-eyed Susans, bee balm, Blue Storm agapanthus, coreopsis, stonecrop and chocolate eupatorium (Joe Pye weed).

Of course, we've never been able to get a shot of these winged friends in action – hence my borrowed pic of a butterfly (above) from one of Tesselaar's regional garden bloggers, Denise Pierce of Red Bay, Alabama. 

This year, Maya definitely wants more plants that will attract birds and butterflies in the garden, and of course I’m inclined to buy a full-grown plant from the garden center. But she seems to want to start everything from seed (sigh) –even these dying, leggy sunflowers she insisted on sowing in pots in the middle of winter, so the birds would have seeds to eat. (I told her sunflowers should be direct-sown into the ground later in the season, but she was so excited about gardening, I couldn't crush her spirits):

Leggy sunflower seeds sown indoors in pots

Now she wants to try this butterfly bush kit (lower right, $9.99 from Wegmans):

Butterfly bush garden kit for kids (Wegmans, $9.99)

I’ve never started a butterfly bush from seed, but I’m sure it’ll be interesting.

Speaking of butterflies, Maya also went bonkers over an Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden butterfly hatching kit she saw at Lowe's ($13.95 through Amazon). I don't know about this – little kids and fragile, live creatures just don't seem to be a good mix. Plus, I found out that the kit basically just includes a netted cage and a coupon in you send in to get the live caterpillars and food. I guess that makes sense, because you can't keep caterpillars alive in a box, but still – one more step? Ugh).

Maybe when Maya's older, we'll try to grow some milkweed, since that's what the Monarch butterfly caterpillars eat (I understand the milky white sap is poisonous, so I think I'd like to wait a few years on that one).

Regardless, I've learned that gardening is a great way to keep kids active and connected to their environment, and as with everything else, there's a fine line to walk between ensuring success and fostering independence. So I've gotta roll with what my daughter likes – right now, it's birds and butterflies – and let her call some shots and pick out and sow some plants, so she sort of "owns" the experience. I've also learned to let her experiment, even if it means dead plants on the windowsill. I think I'm just not ready for dead butterflies yet!

Maya sowing her sunflower seeds for the birdies

So tell me – what are some of your favorite bird- and butterfly-friendly plants that can encourage kids to get out in the garden? Post a comment and lemme know!

So I'm minding my own business on the deck the other day, and whaddya know? My Bluestorm™ agapanthus threw out a second flush of blooms.

Here I thought I was so cool and edgy, growing this Zone 9-11 tropical (also called Lily of the Nile) in my humble, little Zone 6a garden in upstate New York. Turns out this tropical beauty is just perfect for colder climates like mine, with the exception of having to overwinter them inside.

But big whoop – I'm already doing that here with my Bonfire^® begonias, Tropicanna^® cannas and tropical houseplants like croton and bromeliads. And many of my gardening friends do the same with their elephant ears, angel trumpet, hibiscus and other houseplants. (For more information on overwintering tropicals indoors, see this great article from the University of Illinois Extension).

While I thought my barrier to growing agapanthus (or other tropical plants) was the cold winter temperatures, Texans, I learned, have the opposite problem – too much heat (in the summer, at night). At least that's what I learned at the Dallas Arboretum this past month during a tour there with other Garden Writers Association' members attending the group's annual symposium downtown (check out some pics from the tour at Red Dirt Ramblings, Floradora and Gardening with Confidence).

"We went through all the agapanthus years ago, and killed them all – except Bluestorm," says Jimmy Turner, Senior Director of Gardens for the arboretum. "It's the only one we have in our display gardens."

At a compact 30 inches, Bluestorm is "the perfect little height," he says. "Some of the agapanthus we've had are up here at my height (6 feet) with huge umbels that fall over in the wind. And you get one flower stalk instead of five or six."

Bluestorm agapanthus in containers

Turner also loves Bluestorm for its great foliage, multi-heading flower stems (as many as a hundred stems on one 5-year-old plant) and quick growth.

In Texas, he added, Bluestorm agapanthus also has a second flush – and sometimes even a third flush – of blooms. "The first flush here happens about April-May and lasts for six to seven weeks. Then about the end of May, we get a second flush for about four to six weeks. After that they go into summer dormancy, and occasionally we get a third spike of blooms around September-October."

For Turner, Bluestorm is the perfect container plant. "In our zone, it's a perennial, so it's also great to leave in the garden … we like to give it a little afternoon shade."

When it comes to designing with agapanthus, Turner recommends a more formal approach. "It needs to be grouped tightly in a square, triangle or centerpiece. (Bluestorm's consistent height makes it perfect for this).

Bluestorm agapanthus in massed plantings

"Agapanthus is a diva," he jokes. "It's so striking, it doesn't blend well with other plants … We use a lot of variegated liriope and groundcovers with it, just to really showcase it."

"Tesselaar's new Everest™ carex would also be a good pairing with that," I added, not so subtly. "You're right," laughed Turner. "It would."

And who knew? Agapanthus is the designer must-have item in Europe: "Blue and purple varieties have been really popular in recent years, and that trend looks set to continue," said Claire Smith, plant area manager for Sanders Garden World in Somerset, England (in this June 2009 article in Horticulture Week). And they've long been a mainstay in places like California and Australia.

In the UK and Australia, garden designers and florists love agapanthus' architectectural shape and even use the flower after the petals have fallen off. And with so many flowers on a single plant, Bluestorm has become a cutting garden favorite for this very reason. 

Sounds like Bluestorm's more workhorse than diva! Tell me what you think … have you grown agapanthus? Did it work well for you? Post a comment and tell me!